Tombs – “All Empires Fall” Review

Tombs – “All Empires Fall” Review

If darkness is your thing and you have yet to hear Brooklyn’s Tombs, it’s time for you to meet. Led by Mike Hill from Anodyne, Tombs continues to forge ahead into bleaker sonic landscapes. Their first two albums were an American take on black metal, and heavy still remains the most common dynamic, however their new EP “All Empires Fall” finds their former post-punk flirtations blooming into full blow goth tendencies. With the inclusion of Fade Kainer from Statiqbloom into the fold the industrial influence that lurked under the blast beats has now risen from the depths like Godzilla. This is not an album for the faint of heart, those of you who seldom find “Heaven or Las Vegas” leaving you cd players might be in for a surprise. Heads will bang right from the driving riffs of the opening instrumental “the World is Made of Fire”. They even dig back into their black metal past for “Obsidian”. However it’s not all thuggish blast beats as Kainer’s synths brings new sonic layers.

The darkness rolls in on “the Last Day of Sunlight”. This finds the band reaching the next level. Hill comes in with a low croon that would make Andrew Eldritch proud. The music slithers around him in an exotic death rock fashion. Tribal drumming seethes up from under the bass driven beginning to “Deceiver”. This finds the band fusing their dark side with their metallic outbursts with perfect symmetry. This balance in the Force continues on their first single “V” with Hill and the boys finding the sweet spot where they are just as heavy sonically as they are metal. The only thing wrong with this album is the fact it’s an EP rather than a full length, because it leaves me still wanting more.